Angels blow five-run lead in 6-5 loss to Indians

CLEVELAND -- Five runs ahead and 10 outs away from a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians, the Angels collapsed in the sixth and seventh innings for a 6-5 loss at Progressive Field on Sunday.

Cleveland catcher Carlos Santana led off the seventh inning with a home run to right field off reliever J.C. Gutierrez to tie the score, 5-5, the first run given up in the series by an Angels bullpen, which had retired 18 of 20 Indians batters to that point.

Lonnie Chisenhall walked with one out, Drew Stubbs singled, Michael Bourn stroked a run-scoring single to left field off left-hander Nick Maronde for a 6-5 lead, and the Indians held on to snap a six-game losing streak.

It marked the fourth time this season the Angels lost a game in which they had a five-run lead and a major league-high 11th time they lost a game in which they led by at least three runs.

Angels starter Jerome Williams cruised through 5 2/3 innings, needing 65 pitches to blank the Indians on one hit while striking out seven, including Chisenhall and Stubbs to open the sixth.

Ten pitchers later, the right-hander was out of the game, Nick Swisher following Bourn’s single with a two-run home run to left-center field and Mike Aviles, who replaced ejected shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera in the third inning, following a walk to Jason Kipnis with a two-run homer to left to pull Cleveland to within 5-4.

The Angels scored twice in each of the first and second innings, Josh Hamilton (single) and Mark Trumbo (fielder’s choice grounder) driving in runs in the first and Mike Trout hitting a two-out, two-run single in the second.

Kole Calhoun’s RBI single in the fourth pushed the lead to 5-0, and the Angels knocked out Indians ace Justin Masterson, who entered with a 3-0 record and 2.10 earned-run average in 10 career games against the Angels, in the fifth.

But the Angels couldn’t put a dent in the Indians bullpen, as Rich Hill, Matt Albers, Joe Smith and Chris Perez combined to shut down the Angels on one hit over the final 4 2/3 innings.

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